December: Deckin' the Halls

Step 1 of decking the halls chez Izatt this year was gettin' a tree. Our beloved artificial Charlie Brown tree gave up the ghost last year so we decided it was time for a real Charlie Brown tree haha. We took our tired, not dressed for the weather children to a tree lot on the boulevard and set a record for how quickly we picked a tree because... did I mention everyone was tired and cold haha?

Carma Junie was the self-appointed window decorator. She took a very abstract approach and we were thus treated to floating pieces of Santa Claus and reindeer and snowflakes every time we gazed outside.  

Grandma and Grandpa Izatt sent us a super fun Lego Star Wars advent calendar and it was so fun! We opted to bust it out every three days and let each of the boys open a window at once. 

Early in the month we also brought out our Lego Christmas sets to put together again. Perfect Sunday morning activity! 

On a different Sunday Will and Jack accepted a challenge to create their own Christmas lego masterpieces:

Ahhh Christmas lights on our house make me so happy! As does a little wreath on the front door! And a blurry lit Christmas tree! 

We (finally) made it out to Caldwell to see their Winter Wonderland Festival- soooo pretty:

I can't even imagine how much work goes into this but we sure loved it! Thanks Caldwell!

We didn't necessarily have specific plans to go see the Scentsy lights but a few nights before Christmas the kids and I were driving home from hanging out with Grandpa Braden and we made a spontaneous right turn and I'm so glad we did! It was the perfect evening for it- snow was falling and it just made it that much more magical:

 And then my ridiculous children (one of whom may or may not be a bank robber, yikes) insisted body sledding down a hill haha. I told them they could as long as they didn't whine about being cold and wet on the drive home... you can guess how well they kept up their end of that deal ;).